The young men were offered the opportunity to play for Alabama in 2013, they rejected the offers. Philon will not play a down in 2012 with Arkansas and therefore is in exactly the same spot with the Hogs as he would have been at Alabama, only unhappier. This was his choice, not Bama's. To twist it otherwise as if every kid has a right to play wherever they want is not only irresponsible journalism, but it's a reflection on the entitlement mentality that is ruining our nation as a whole.

The young men were offered the opportunity to play for Alabama in 2013, they rejected the offers. Philon will not play a down in 2012 with Arkansas and therefore is in exactly the same spot with the Hogs as he would have been at Alabama, only unhappier. This was his choice, not Bama's. To twist it otherwise as if every kid has a right to play wherever they want is not only irresponsible journalism, but it's a reflection on the entitlement mentality that is ruining our nation as a whole.

Don't tell me, as an Alabama fan, that I would "be furious" if we were #1 and had to play the same team again in the BCS championship. We are happy to be in the game and intend to win it. We beat Florida, at Florida, in 99 and beat them down again for the SEC. I heard no complaints whatsoever about who we had to play, nor would I if it were the national championship. The real story though, is sportswriters trying to change the rules when the results don't match with their own hopes and dreams, and that mis-use of power is more dangerous than any BCS process. The whining and teeth-gnashing was worse than any I've ever seen this week. It's sad, especially when we have the consensus #1 and #2 teams in the game. The only ones who think otherwise are pansies who think it would "be fair" if number 3 were let in to avoid the rematch.

It is really sad when football fans do not understand the rules of the game that they watch, but it is downright pathetic when a so-called sports writer does not understand what goes into the selection of the top two teams. Whenever we come up with a playoff, we will play by those rules, but until then, we are supposed to get the top two teams for the BCS championship game. PERIOD. We have that. PERIOD.

Soo, Mr Scott is either uninformed or biased if he for a moment thinks Oklahoma St is better than Alabama. Iowa St sliced through the middle of their line like a hot knife through butter. Can you imagine what we would do to them? His opinion means as much to me as mine does to him. No team, whether it be Alabama or LSU should be penalized for being in the same division. For years we've been saying how tough it is to go through the SEC undefeated, yet now the pundits expect it due to the last 2 years. Absent a playoff system, this is the only option of trying to match up the best 2 teams in a title game. That will happen if LSU-Bama are there, so I don't understand all the whining.

Wow, talk about hypocricy. As Scarb points out, there hasn't been any evidence, only inuindo and circumstantial evidence, that auburn payed Newton to play, so he's willing to give auburn a pass. There is exactly the same amount of evidence that Meyer had any role in shining a light on a wrongdoing, yet he should be banned from the booth because he may have a bias against poor auburn. boo hoo hoo. This whole story is laughable.

Jon, I believe you are wrong about the Finebaum sweepstakes. The "winner" of that sweepstake will be the loser in real listeners. AL.com's "Soundoff" is simply an extension of the Finebaum show: bitter and sad listeners and readers given an opportunity to reveal their ignorance to the world. I look forward to a real sports talk station in the area. I can only stand Finebaum's show in 5-10 minute doses, and then only if there is a legitimate guest on the show, and I NEVER read the soundoffs. I really hope he doesn't bring his poison to the Zone.

Matt is either a moron, or just a very ignorant movie star with a big guilt complex. If he wants to clear his conscience, he can freely donate as much of his fortune (that you and I gave him). It's not "criminal" for people to want to keep their own money instead of having our government think that everything earned is theirs to be rationed out according to the number of votes they need to buy. Of course, people need money to go to movies, so who's the real criminal here Matt? Not as much money in it for him if those who earn their money keep it instead of having it redistributed by our increasingly oppressive government.

I would agree with you for one very important distinction. Coaches ARE educators, as anyone who ever learned the larger lessons of life can attest, and the statues are erected outside the FOOTBALL stadium, made with FOOTBALL funds, generated by FOOTBALL revenues. When the UNIVERSITY, as opposed to the FOOTBALL program, decides they want to erect a statue of the physics professor outside the PHYSICS department, then I'll be all for that too.

When people don't understand things, they are sometimes afraid of them. No outsider could understand football in Alabama, whether it be Scarbinsky or Gumbel, and I don't value their opinions because I know they speak ignorantly. I can say that Gumbel, like most "journalists" these days, just regurgitate what they think is the popular opinion of the day and run with it. I recall the same attacks for the number of fans attending Bama's "A" day games, and I just smile. People seem to brush away the fact that Gene Stallings also has a statue there, and he resigned in the wake of NCAA trouble under his helm. It's not about that. It's about winning national championships at Alabama, and that precident was set before either of them came to Alabama. If you win the national championship, you get a statue outside the stadium. Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, to name a couple, have plaques at Yankee Stadium, even though they did little ouside the diamond to deserve recognition, but that's ok because it's New York. When it's Alabama, it's politically correct to attack, so they do. As far as the sttues at Auburn goes, it's an obvious attempt to keep up with Alabama in some way shape or form, and I can't judge them for that.

It's time to boycott the Birmingham News. I will not purchase anything from any sponsor of this site or newspaper until this fishwrap stops publishing muckraking, libelous stories. An Auburn writer goes on a radio show and makes baseless accusations, and this rag prints it as if it's gospel. Goodness gracious, this is Journalism 101 guys, get off your butts and find the truth before being so eager to sell a paper.

First of all, the only mud being slung is by the Birmingham News via shoddy journalism and hiding behind "Sound Off" columns to state their opinions. Just because Auburn is in trouble, don't go trying to drag Bama down with you. The B'ham News and Auburn can sink together in their slimy pit.

So now the sound off is being disguised as real journalism. It does NOT reflect reality, only Auburn dilusions. Alabama fans don't give a crap about Ramsey or Auburn. We would not hate it if Auburn continues to self-destruct, but we're all about supporting Alabama, not bringing down Auburn. Auburn is doing a fine job of bringing themselves down without any help.

All I've been reading from Auburn fans for weeks now is how wrong Alabama is for putting up a statue of a living person, (even though we already had one of Coach Stallings that the aubies ignored for some reason), yet the same Auburn fans have no problem putting up statues of 3 living people at their own stadium. Secondly, the statues themselves epitomize the differences between the two universities, one values teamwork and team championships, one values individual accomplishments. It's hilarious to see Auburn fans try to put a positive spin on their statues after trashing Alabama for the same thing for so long, but completely expected and predictable. These are the same fans who are seeing their program implode and instead of fixing it, they just throw more mud and hope everyone gets some on them.